


Clockwork hearts in a clockwork world

by Queen_of_Mischief



Category: Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber
Genre: Cats human au, Cats meets Steampunk, Deaf Plato, M/M, Multi, Mute Victoria
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:06:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23489542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_of_Mischief/pseuds/Queen_of_Mischief
Summary: In the wake of the unveiling of Mr Mistoffelees's living doll, a doll that looks, acts and moves as if it was human.The lives of the twins change forever as they meet a very outgoing rockstar, a deaf poet that steals the heart of the sister, two troublemaking twins and a sinister man.
Relationships: Mr Mistoffelees/rum tum tugger, Munkustrap/Demeter/Bombalurina, Victoria/Plato/Rumpleteazer
Kudos: 12





	1. The first performance

The marketplace was bursting with bright colours, exotic smells, and the world’s most precious and richest items all in one place. The merchants all shouted over each other trying to sell the items in their stocks while men and women go in search for items to buy to live or entertain their young, but for those who desire to be entertained or even leave their children for a short while to not be disturbed the sideshow alley is where to go. The alley is home to some of the craziest acts, or the craziest types of cats imaginable, for your future to be told via cards, palms or crystal ball by the psychic twins Tantomile and Coricopat, not only do they share the same abilities but also similar looks too, or to be swindled out of pocket go to the trouble twins, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, two troublemakers known for the disappearing lady card trick funny how the person’s wallet also end up disappearing two, some have even speculated these two take from houses in the dead of night.

Today however was a new day as a small black tuxedo man is seen pushing a rather large and round device, passerbyers look on intrigued at what this man was gonna do. Children stopped their games as the man stops once in a large empty area in the sideshow alley, the ladies and gentlemen at the other attractions turn interested in the new show and all leaving the other vendors to stand and watch, both sets of twins turn wondering what this person thinks they are doing. Once settled the man turns flaring his coat out he almost looks alarmed as he takes off his hat that has goggles and clock cogs sat firmly upon it, the man takes a formal bow as the crowd forms behind the children sitting on the ground. “L-l-ladies and gentlemen I know I may look like a simple clock maker but much like my project behind me I am so much more,” he pauses his speech to put his hat back on and to gather his nerves, he can do this, he’s practised for months and finally it’s time. Gaining new confidence he turns sharply to his audience taking on a more playful and perhaps sneaky demeanour “, I ask you all, our technologies have advanced the world at a faster rate than anything we can even imagine”. Some of the men groan and start to leave and mothers and children growing bored with the same spiel all inventors use, the man seeing his audience was leaving quickly raised his voice “I have created a doll! A human doll that moves on its own!” Everyone leaving turned surprised and went back to their spots, the admission also got other’s attention including that of a cloaked silent figure, a tall poet and a fanciful looking man, whispers started going around and the main man twitched with excitement “I am Mr Mistoffelees, all my inventions are off my own bat, There's no such cat in the Metropolis who holds all the patent monopolies, For performing surprising illusions And creating eccentric confusions. And now ladies and gentlemen please meet my living doll” he declares before going behind the large contraption confusing the children, cranking sounds are made before beautiful violin music plays and the contraption opens up to reveal a stage with a small female figure lying lifeless on a small stool, she was pure white from her shoes all the way to her incredibly long white hair that lay in curls all around her with only a black and brown large bow and flowers adorned in her hair, she had pointe shoes only professionals used in ballet performances that were tied up all the way to under her knee, her dress though small was dressed in a modest white gown with black ribbons around the ends of the skirt and at the top of her strapless dress, silver metals were wrapped around her stomach and chest as a caged corset and the same metal can be seen on her arms and shoulders connecting them together, her wrist her also adorned in white lace covered by brown straps and black roses. As the music continued suddenly her eyes opened revealing them to be a crystal blue, strings were seen pulling at her arms and at first the doll looked confused but let the strings control her in a dance, her arms and legs moving in sync as they made her do simple ballet routines, some men leave as this so called ‘living doll’ was no more than a large puppet. At that moment the children and other adults watched as the strings pulled harsher and it looked like the doll was being hurt before she was yanked forward by an invisible force and Mr Mistoffelees was yanked along with her and was thrown onto the street along with a large puppeteering device as the doll fell face first onto the stage, her limbs falling in unhuman positions and with her back exposed showed a large gold key plunged into her back. The audience gasps in shock and even in horror as Mistoffelees gets up “please do not be alarmed I can assure you that my doll is perfectly fine “isn’t she living?” a small voice called out and he turned to a young girl “I beg your pardon?” he asks for clarification “you told us she was a living doll but you were controlling her on strings, is she really living?”

Mr Mistoffelees smirks before kneeling before her “you young lady are absolutely right, in fact why don't you go twist her key three times and see what happens” he tells her and after quiet urging from her mother the girl goes up and using all her might she twist the key but nothing happens, turning to the man smugly at him being wrong the man pulls out a wand and with quick flourish the music begins again at a faster speed and the doll’s key turns as she herself gets up and begins her routine again, this time stringless and willing to prove that as her movements once jerky now have more smoothness to them, she is jumping all around and twirling all around making the children cheer and clap, Mr Mistoffelees throws his hat down and willing adults throw money in to show their appreciation for the performance, Mistoffelees takes a spot on the stage and when the doll gets close he begins their stringless puppetry before he lets her go again as the music comes to an end Mistoffelees guides her back to her spot, making sure he and the little girl are off the stage before it closes on itself. The man turns to his audience “thank you all for being a lovely audience and I can assure you we will be back here soon” he declares and the audience leaves.

“Oy’ Teazer get a load of this guy coming here and taking our money” Mungojerrie rants to his sister who looked distracted “hey Teazer” “ahh! What?” she asks once she comes back “you okay?” Jerrie asked and she nods “oh yes i'm fine” she assures before thinking to herself that she was crazy for loving a doll from a mere glance. “Hey Mister, how come the dancer didn't speak?” “can see sing?” a small group of children asked Mr Mistoffelees before he could leave “um, well children our vocal cords are a very sensitive instrument in our bodies and can be difficult to replicate, so unfortunately I haven’t been able to figure out how to give her a voice now run along before your mother calls for you” he sets them off as he collects his hat and earnings before pushing the load back to his home, it was a modest two story house, on the upper levels was a two bedroom home and the bottom level was a clock and toys mechanics shop. Once inside Misto gave the signal to the woman inside the box, he tapped the side twice and his little twin sister Victoria came out before both headed upstairs, Misto to the table to count the earnings and Victoria to her room to get changed. It is true the living doll is a trick that Misto came up with to not only give them money but let the twins explore their passions, Misto with his powerful magic and Victoria with her dancing, the only downside is that outside of performances Victoria wears a short black wig and brown eye contacts to cover her identity, her brother is easy to blend in but not Victoria being born with extremely rare skin colouration, Victoria is also a born mute and aside from their lack of wealth she is undesirable for a husband. They do have a rich uncle but they want to make their own way in life not relying on his money and because he said he’d only do it if he can marry Victoria off to the highest bidder. So to save his sister from that life Misto with the help of their older brother Alonzo, a man born with Vitiligo who works as a secret guard for the mayor’s son Munkustrap, left their uncle’s home with the message that said simply ‘ don’t come looking for us’ and now live in a toy/ clock shop where Misto works as the apprentice/worker for the owner Skimbleshanks. “I can’t believe we didn’t try this before, look at all these gold and silver pieces we are definitely going to continue with this” Misto said counting and splitting the money before he was stopped by the door opening and a tall man in a dark cloak entered and looked at all the stuff and seemed to be looking for something in particular. Misto dawned his apron and work goggles on his head, hiding the money in the ouch of his apron before speaking “excuse me sir can I help you?” he asked the man, who turned and gave a chilling stare at Misto, “your performance today was quite a spectacle and before you say that's not you I saw you wheel your machine into her” the man said. Misto was glad that the shop didn’t have any windows so it’s unlikely this man knew the secret of the living doll. 

Victoria then comes down with her wig and eye contacts on, wearing a long sleeved dark shirt and high waisted dark green skirt with brown suspenders, and a little hat sat tilted on her head. She notices the man and signs to her brother ‘may I go visit the library?’ She would frequent the library to look at books on dancing and takes notes to practice at home. Misto nods and quietly watches as she silently leaves, the man hears the doorbell and turns enough to see a dark haired woman leave the shop “that's my assistant, pay her no mind” misto says and the man turns back to Misto. “As I was saying that the living doll was very magnificent, she moved with such fluidity and was almost lifelike. I want her” he says and the air in the shop turns tense, “I’m sorry did you say you wanted the living doll?” misto needed the confirmation and was trying to see what this man’s intention was “I want the living doll yes, i'm willing to pay whatever you need for her” he persists but Misto flat out says “nope sorry she is not for sale” the man’s voice turns hard but he doesn’t lose this creepy smile “Now I tried to be reasonable but my patience is running thin boy, you better give her to me or-” “but she’s not finished she will break,” misto didn’t know why he said it but anything to get this guy off his back “,look she’s only a prototype and can break today was her first test run”. This made the other guy back off “fine I’ll give you three weeks, and that's a generous amount of time from me, here’s my card and you call me when you have made a better model, and if you don’t by the end of those three weeks then i’ll come back here and break your hands and then steal that one” he threatens as he leaves and Misto looks down at the card which the man placed on his table which only had the name printed in big, bold letters MACAVITY.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria meets someone similar to her but does her new found fame cause more problems

Victoria was wandering the halls of the library looking for more books that she hadn’t read, looking up she saw a book that she saw had an undamaged spine however what she also noticed was that it was on the top shelf. Victoria could barely reach the third shelf by herself and now how was she expected to get the dam book, looking at the empty aisle she hoped no one would walk in as she did this, grabbing onto the shelves she slowly put her feet on the last shelf. Slowly she lifts her foot to the next shelf and starts her climb, it was wobbling but she managed to get her other foot up to meet her other but then she remembered why no one does this as she immediately felt unstable and before she could even move she felt herself fall back, she tensed expecting to fall onto the hard carpeted floor but was surprised to feel her soft landing. Looking up she noticed a tall dark haired man had caught her, she was grateful for the twenty hair pins she used to keep her wig from falling off, though she didn’t remember seeing him at their show, she also noticed how his eyes seemed harsh but held a certain softness to them like herself he was not what he seemed. 

  
  


He gently put her down and with ease she saw him reach up and grab the exact book she was risking her life for, he held it out to her, she graciously accepted it and signed ‘thank you’ to him. He looked at her weirdly “what?” she tried again to sign but he was still confused “I can’t understand that, what are you saying? Can’t you speak normally” he says exasperated, while Victoria just glares at him and takes out her small book and pen before writing in her book and turning it for the man to see it reads ‘I’m mute’. Instant regret shows on his face as he face palms and sighs mad at himself, he turns back to the woman and says in the most sincere voice “I’m truly sorry for what I said and how I acted. I'm deaf so when you started speaking with your hands I got confused”. It was Victoria’s turn to be shocked as she had never seen anyone with a disability that was similar to her own, under her first sentence she wrote ‘it is called sign language and it’s how I’ve been able to stay in contact with my family, I’m surprised you’ve seem to have gone your whole life without seeing this form of communication’. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly “lets just say that it’s something my family never thought of,” he then holds his hand out to her “,I’m Plato what’s your name?” She writes down her answer before accepting and shaking his hand while showing him the word ‘Victoria’ “Victoria thats a beautiful name, look how about we continue this outside” he suggest and without thinking Victoria nods and following Plato until she sees the librarian at her desk and stops to Plato’s surprise. “Hey what’s wrong?” he asks her and she points to the librarian and shakes her head turning to put the book back but Plato turns her back around “hey, it’ll be okay I promise” she doesn't believe him and as he walks forwards she walks back but stops again when she sees she doesn’t have the book and looks and finds Plato has it. She quickly walked over to try to stop Plato but is too late “a book on classical ballet?” the librarian sounds surprised as she looked at Plato who just smiles innocently “I heard dancing is poetry in motion and I’m trying to broaden my horizons and I’m thinking of bringing my poetry to the stage for more people to witness” the librarian finds that a good reasoning and allows Plato to borrow these books out and he gently grab’s victoria’s arm to walk her out too.

They didn’t stop walking until they reached a giant tree in the middle of the city, Plato sits down with his back against the tree and Victoria nervously sits down across from him. Plato hands Victoria her book and opens one of his on poetry, Victoria writes in her book before laying it in Plato’s lap, he reads ‘you didn’t have to do that but thank you anyway’ he looks up to her smile with one of his own “no problem I have a feeling this book would be more useful when you can read it in your own time,” she nods agreeing with his thoughts “,just remember to give that back to me afterwards alright” she mutely chuckles and nods accepting that promise. Plato goes back to reading when he feels Victoria drop her book back into his lap with the question ‘how did you go your whole life without needing to learn sign language?’ he gives it back to her and answers with a shrug “I’m not sure I was raised by my Uncles, grandfather and grandmother, they don’t partially known sign language themselves and truthfully we barely knew I had a problem, my family often always faced me or even at a distance I could see their mouths moving, and yes it took awhile for me to develop my reading and talking, I just always managed to find myself able to look at a person’s mouth and slowly I could know what words they were saying it wasn’t till I was about 7 or 8 that my uncle took me to a doctor and learned I was deaf. After that with no knowledge of sign language they just focused on training me with my ability to read lips and now all I have to do is pay attention and look at a person’s lips to understand how they speak and then what words they are saying. Thanks to that no one outside my immediate family knows I’m deaf and now so do you” he finishes and Victoria was stunned and thought of how similar her upbringing was to his with how her brother and herself learnt a new way of communicating using one of her other senses. With that they both go back to their books, Plato also looked to be writing some notes in his own notebook or maybe he was fixing problems in his own work, Victoria wasn’t sure but didn’t let that distract her from her own study.

After some silence Victoria gets up and stands beside a low branch using it as a balance beam and starts practicing the dancing she’d seen not only in the book but in others, Plato didn’t mind and watches her out of the corner of his eye as she did this finding it very adorable. It wasn’t until now did he believe what he say that dancing was poetry in motion, but right here right now watching Victoria move around him dancing around along to only the music in her head, he could see that she was a practised ballerina by how elegant, poised and how skilled she was, if she was using ballet books to simply read and mimic the moves perfectly without any professional teachers then she must be one hell of a dancer to pull that off. In fact there’s only one person he’d say that even compares to Victoria’s “you know you kinda dance like the living doll” he said and that shocked Victoria enough to break her concentration and she fell and Plato started to worry before Victoria got back up ‘why do you say that?’ she asked this time mouthing her words “I’m sorry I mean it as a compliment I’m sorry it’s just when I saw her dancing she was so entrancing and magical, I just couldn’t look away and it’s the same here with you I have the same feelings when I see you dancing that's all I’m sorry if i offended you” he rebutts but Victoria is already dusting off her dress and picking up her book ‘It’s okay,I just wasn’t expecting that. But it’s late and my brother will be wondering where I am, I gotta go sorry’ she mouths to him again before quickly leaving. She didn’t know he saw her as the doll but she hoped that he never finds out the truth.


End file.
